Blue Haze hunt Club is a Manitoba whitetail deer hunting outfitter operating in the western area of the province, near Riding Mountain National Park. This location, spanning the forest fringe and agricultural land, is a hot spot for whitetail deer, offering optimum growing conditions for big-bodied deer.

After being in contact with Blue Haze, we discussed their online marketing needs and then we built them a website to focus attention on their whitetail outfitter business.

Proven Deer Hunting Tips by Luke Harris

Preseason Scouting: An essential step to preparing for the deer hunting season is by scouting before it starts. Keep your visibility low on these outings by crouching down or even laying on your stomach. Watch for feeding patterns and the routes deer choose, this will show you where to position yourself when the season comes.

Tree Stands and Safety: Tree stands provide a good vantage point for getting your shot. You’ll also be above the deer’s normal viewing area helping to disguise you even more. Remember that most accidents in the tree stand come from falling asleep or when getting on or off your stand. The best way to prevent an accident is by purchasing a tree stand harness and using it.

Bait the Area In Which You Want the Deer to Be: Bait the area you want the deer to be with chopped up apples. Deer have trouble resisting the smell of apples and if it’s up wind they’ll certainly be compelled to find the tasty treat. This means you’ll have the deer right where you want him-in your scope.

Choose Good Clothing: There’s nothing worse than a cold rainy day when you’re wearing cotton. Choose jackets and clothing that are waterproof and windproof. Products with Gore-Tex and Wind Stopper are ideal but pricey. You can usually find Camo gear with the same functions for half the price. Do your research and shop around.

Using Deer Calls: You should allow 20-30 minutes between using your deer call. Anything more will sound unnatural to the deer. Make sure that you vary the intensity of the call. If the deer is close tone it down, if the deer is further away make sure he can hear it. Tie a string around your deer call so you can keep it around your neck, this way you won’t drop it or have any trouble finding it when you’re ready to use it again.

Wait Awhile Before Tracking Your Wounded Deer: It’s best to wait 20-30 minutes before you track down a wounded deer. Believe me this can seem like an eternity but it’s worth the wait. If you set out tracking immediately you’ll get the deer’s adrenaline racing and he’ll cover more distance in half an hour than you could in half a day. Let his wound run its course and soon your deer will be overcome with fatigue and weakness. Now you won’t have to track him so far. Happy Hunting.

The key to success in waterfowl hunting, especially in unfamiliar territory, is often in the preparation before the hunt. In duck hunting, this means locating the right spot. Sure, you need the right gear, decoys, calls, camo, guns and ammo, but all of that is useless if you don’t have the bird numbers to put a bead on. Follow these 3 steps for more duck hunting success.

Scouting helps you know the fields and water around you. Where are the ducks feeding? What is their flight path? What other water is around? Is this a roost pond or a day use pond? Sometimes you just don’t need to spot as much. If you know the lay of the land extremely well, and the number of local birds is high, then your regular spots are likely good to go. Spend some windshield time driving the area. Try to follow the routine of the ducks from water to field to water.

Check the spot you want hunt at the same time of day you want to hunt. Get out and take a walk around where you want to hunt. Do you have cover for all wind directions? Take note of the species of birds that frequent the spot. If you want to shoot mallards, and you see plenty in your spotting runs, then be prepared to wait for the mallard to show. If you have picked a good spot and you are set up with a good decoy spread, give the mallard’s time. Don’t fire off a volley of shots at the first flock of pintails or teal to buzz your decoys. The mallards may not be far behind and a few shotgun blasts can be enough to send them searching for a new pothole. If you are not particular about species (know your limits) then be selective about the flocks that are in the air and what’s over your decoys. If you have a flock of 50 ducks approaching, you might want to let the three in range pass through.

Gaining access to land is usually an easy task, as long as you politely ask for permission. My experience has been that most landowners will grant you permission as long as you respect their land, their crops, their livestock.

Spotting gives you a better opportunity for a better hunt. Once you have done your preparation, then it’s time for your shooting skills to take over.

We have just finished helping a Manitoba Bear Hunting Outfitter restore their website. Bear Creek Hunting (www.dnrbearhunting.com) was without a website for several months as their previous website developer has exited the business. With a couple of quick email exchanges, beginning on a Saturday, we were able to act quickly and get their website back up and live, complete, by the following Monday.

In addition to having their website back up and running, as a hosted website customer of ours, they also qualify for the free Premium Listing, free Featured Outfitter banner displays and the exclusive TripFinder service.

We have just finished building a new website for Head Hunter Outfitters. You can see the site at: www.headhunteroutfitters.com. This outfitter operates a Whitetail Deer and Black Bear hunting camp in northern Saskatchewan. The website features this outfitters hunt information, a custom contact form, plus custom image galleries for their bear hunting, whitetail hunting, and also trophy fishing on the nearby lakes.

Of all the topics in the world to write songs about, the great outdoors seems to have been mostly overlooked. It’s just plain difficult to find a song, let alone a good song, about hunting or fishing. Yes, there are a few “joke songs” out there, songs that rank up there with “Snoopy and the Red Baron”, and hunting or fishing show opening songs, but actual songs by actual brand name artists are hard to come by. It’s not hard to find songs about girls, songs about boys, songs about cars, and summer, and parties, and all other popular topics. So, we have scoured the internet and our own personal music libraries, to give you a list of songs for hunting and fishing. Some of these are great, some are crap (personal opinions), but you know what they are about by the titles. Some of my personal favorites come from Ted Nugent, who can quite regularly be found on outdoor shows having a great time shooting black bear in Saskatchewan with his “Wackmaster” bow or shooting ducks off his back porch in Michigan. If you want a great album, pick up “Spirit of the Wild” which includes many of the songs listed. A few of these songs take the light hearted approach, such as Brad Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her”. We have a second list of songs that might be considered, but aren’t really, about hunting or fishing, but mention animals, or lakes, or forest, or such.

Our Favorite Places to Hunt and Fish

On our website, under both the Camping menu and the Hunting menu, you can find a link to Our Favorite Places. We have started this section with information on some of our favorite hunting and fishing locations, and then others have take over and added hundreds of more locations.

What’s your favorite hunting place? Maybe it’s that set of ponds that load up with Mallards in October. Maybe it’s the patch of forest next to the river where the big whitetails bed down at night. Maybe you have a favorite lake or stream where the fishing is always great.

Come and browse the Favorite Places. Maybe yours is already on the list!

We have added a Moon Phases chart to the right sidebar on our website. Moon phases are said to affect the activity levels of wildlife, including fish. Personally, I would have to agree. The theory says that full moon and no moon times are best for fishing, and half moon times are next best. I have a watch that shows me the moon phases and even shows me the peak fishing times within the peak fishing days, which are moon rise and moon fall.

You can see the moon phase chart on any page. Just scroll down the right side.

I had the great fortune of participating in a sporting dog trial in Germany this spring. A business associate of mine was one of the judges, or training to be a judge, I was never quite sure how that worked. He was also the breeder of one of the dogs in the trial. In total, there were 20 dogs and owners divided into 5 groups of 4 with several judges in each group. The predominant breed used was called the Deutsch Drataahr (know in North America as German Wirehair Pointer). Other dog breeds were allowed. All dogs were just one year old. The dogs went through a series of trials, one by one, with judges watching closely.

The first trial was to test pointing skills. Dogs walked a tree line and had to hold a point on a rabbit or a bird for 4 seconds to score well. Each trial produced 11 or 12 points as a maximum with defined criteria. Being young dogs, some had difficulty holding point until their master arrived at their side and they often spooked the bird/rabbit. The second trial was the Gun Test. Actually, I have no idea what the test was called as everyone was speaking German, quickly, and I was left to guess what the object of the trail was. In the Gun Test, the dog and one hunter simply walked about 50 paces into a field, then two shots were fired into the air to see if the dog would run away. Interestingly, all guns were double barreled shot guns. All dogs passed this test, I think. The third trial was Track a Rabbit. This was the longest trial, most difficult to judge, and the trial that likely had the greatest variation in scores for the dogs. Everyone spread out width wise across a cropped field, dog all on leashes, to flush rabbits. When a rabbit took off, the judges would call a nearby dog and it would be put on the trail. Dogs were judged by how long they tracked the rabbit, how they acted when they lost the trail, and how quickly they regained the trail. Some dogs took off for 10 minutes on the track. Others had a difficult time getting on trail and were finished in a minute or two. The dog that eventually won the trial, spent about 15 minutes on the trail, across two fields, through a tree line, under two fences, and a road. When he lost the scent, he went on a circular search pattern until he found it again, then he was at full speed again.

At the end of the field trials, they did a physical inspection of the dogs, checked teeth, and matched tattoos to the breeders records. In the end, from the trial of 4 dogs I participated in, the dog bred by my business associate finished at the top of the group and among the top of the whole trial. At the conclusion of the field trial, all participants and judges met back at a country restaurant for a few pints of beer and a meal. Owners were given their score cards. One of the most interesting parts was at the conclusion of each field trial, Pointing, Gun Test, and Rabbit Track, the head judge would do a dog by dog report. Not understanding most of what he said, it sounded like he was scolding the dogs and their owners for every mistake, and maybe offering suggestions on how to improve their score.

Other interesting observations were made. If you want to hunt pheasant, almost every field we entered held at least 10 of the prize game birds. Every time we flushed one, my trigger finger reached for the safety on the gun that was missing from my hands. I love hunting pheasant. Here was pheasant hunting paradise, and me without a gun (I’m working on my invite to return for the fall). We also spooks a number of Roe Deer (no idea if I spelled that correctly). They are a small deer with a short pair of antlers. I understand they make their way onto the plates of many a German hunter. These are usually hunted from short hunting stands (ironically called ‘tall stands’) about 10-12 feet high and usually positioned against a tree or in a bush line.

I’m looking forward to my next return to Germany, next time scheduled during hunting season, when my business associate assures me there is ample supply of Roe Deer, Red Deer (much like Elk), pheasant, and wild boar to satisfy any itchy trigger finger. I am trying to return the favor by inviting him to a meeting in Saskatchewan in early September for the start of the legendary snow goose migration near the Quill Lakes. To those who allowed me along on their dog trial, ‘Danke ein Auf Wiedersehen’. By the way, the only English you will need in Canada is ‘Take ‘em!’.